Slide block for articulated spindles

ABSTRACT

The present invention pertains to a slide block for articulated spindles on drives of rolling mills, whereby the articulated spindle ( 1 ) has a flat peg ( 2 ), whose tongue ( 3 ) meshes with a cylindrical opening of the spindle head ( 4 ), which opening lies at right angles to the axis of rotation, between which [spindle head] and the flat peg ( 2 ) is arranged the slide block ( 5 ). The slide block ( 5 ) is embodied in a composite construction, with a metallic inner body ( 6 ) and an outer layer ( 7 ) made of polymer fiber material surrounding this [inner body].

The present invention pertains to a slide block for articulated spindleson drives of rolling mills, whereby the articulated spindle has a flatpeg, whose tongue meshes with a cylindrical opening of a spindle head,which [opening] lies at right angles to the axis of rotation, betweenwhich [spindle head] and the flat peg is arranged the slide block.

Slide elements or slide blocks, often also called articulated blocks,are known in various embodiments.

Thus, slide elements, namely bearing bushes and bearing shells,consisting of a carrier material made of steel with a cast-on bearingalloy, have been described in WO 99/36210 A1. This [bearing alloy] islead-free and is based on a copper-zinc or copper-aluminum alloy.

Bearing alloys that contain copper have become known from EP 1 133 588B1.

Furthermore, a slide bearing has become known from U.S. Pat. No.5,422,150 A, whereby the coating in this case consists of a polymercompound.

DE 26 56 257 A1 describes articulated blocks for articulated spindlesand articulated joint coupling heads of rolling mill drives, which arecomposed of a plurality of partial segments, whereby these [partialsegments] may be made of different materials, such as steel, nonferrousmetal or plastic.

Finally, DE 36 23 721 A1, which discloses articulated spindles withlubricated articulated rings, may also be mentioned.

Such copper-containing alloys are characterized by very good sliding andlubricating properties, but have the drawback that copper is releasedduring abrasion. However, for certain rolling processes, especiallyspecial rolling products, it is not permissible for the abraded copperparticles to reach the rolling process.

In contrast to such bearing bushes or bearing shells that containrotating parts, in slide blocks torques are transferred, i.e., acompletely different type of load.

Attempts at using slide blocks made of plastic for transferring torqueshave failed up to now, because these materials do not have sufficientcontact pressure or high-temperature strength.

Therefore, the basic object of the present invention is to provide aslide block that permits both a high contact pressure and has asufficient high-temperature strength, without copper or copper alloysbeing released during abrasion.

This object is accomplished according to the present invention in aslide block for articulated spindles on drives of rolling mills, whereinthe articulated spindle has a flat peg, whose tongue meshes with acylindrical opening of the spindle head, which opening lies at rightangles to the axis of rotation, between which [spindle head] and theflat peg is arranged the slide block, in that the slide block isdesigned as a composite construction with a metallic inner body and anouter layer made of polymer fiber material surrounding this [innerbody].

It was surprisingly shown that such a polymer fiber material, especiallya carbon fiber material, is very suitable for accommodating the highcontact pressures and high-temperature strengths that occur in thetransfer of torques in rolling mill drives.

The slide block according to the present invention can be used both onthe motor side and the roller side.

It is especially advantageous that no additional lubrication, e.g., bymeans of grease, oil or oil mist, is required. Because of the materialproperties of this composite slide block, it is possible to omit acooling; it [cooling] can at least be considerably reduced compared toconventional bearings.

The slide block may have an inner body made of steel and according toanother embodiment, splitting the slide block into a plurality ofsegments is also possible, which are then, of course, also embodied inthe composite construction.

As the carbon fiber material, e.g., Hycomp® may be used.

The present invention shall be explained below in an exemplaryembodiment, wherein the bearing structure and the embodiment of theslide block are schematically shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

The articulated spindle 1 has a flat peg 2, whose tongue 3 meshes with acylindrical opening of the spindle head 4, which [opening] lies at rightangles to the axis of rotation.

The slide block 5 is arranged between the flat peg 2 and the surroundingspindle head 4. In the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 1, this [slideblock] consists of two half-ring-shaped slide block segments, which areconnected to one another by means of slide bolts 8.

The schematic view of the cut slide block in FIG. 2 reveals thecomposite construction of the slide block.

It is evident here that the slide block comprises of a metallic innerbody 6 consisting, e.g., of steel, and a carbon fiber outer layer 7.

1. Slide block for articulated spindles on drives of rolling mills,whereby the said articulated spindle (1) has a flat peg (2), whosetongue (3) meshes with a cylindrical opening of a spindle head (4),which opening lies at right angles to the axis of rotation, betweenwhich [spindle head] and the said flat peg (2) is arranged the saidslide block (5), characterized in that the said slide block (5) isembodied in a composite construction, with a metallic inner body (6) anda outer layer (7) made of polymer fiber material surrounding this [innerbody].
 2. Slide block in accordance with claim 1, characterized in thatthe said inner body (6) consists of steel.
 3. Slide block in accordancewith claim 1, characterized in that the said outer layer consists ofcarbon fiber material.
 4. Slide block in accordance with one of theabove claims, characterized in that the said slide block (5) consists ofa plurality of partial segments, which are each embodied in a compositeconstruction.